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Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on Thursday held his 99th county meeting in Iowa for the 40th consecutive year as part of his annual 99 county meetings with an hour-long meeting with members of the Clinton Regional Development Corporation at the Clinton City Hall.

 

With this meeting, Grassley marks the conclusion of another year in his 40-year practice of holding at least one question-and-answer session with Iowans in every one of Iowa’s 99 counties. Grassley has done so every year since he was first elected to serve in the U.S. Senate in 1980. The hallmark of his meetings are the open-topic question-and-answer sessions where Grassley invites and responds to questions and comments on any subject. Grassley’s efforts to go to Iowans where they work, study and live sets a standard for representative government. Grassley also makes himself available for 15 minutes after each meeting to answer questions from local news media.

 

“Representative government is a two-way street. I’m one half of the process and the people of Iowa are the other half. You can’t have representative government without dialogue between elected officials and the people we represent. I appreciate the opportunity to hold these meetings, answer questions and listen to comments on any subject from Iowans. The cross-section of people I get to meet with during town meetings and in their workplaces, offices and factory floors, in schools and at service organizations, helps me keep in touch and take the common sense of Iowans from all perspectives to work in Washington.

 

“In 40 years, our state has changed and grown a lot. But the commonsense and pragmatism of Iowans has endured, and helped me do a better job representing our home in the nation’s capital. I’m grateful this year and every year to hear from Iowans this way. I look forward to my annual 99 county meetings next year and every year I have the honor to serve Iowans in the U.S. Senate,” Grassley said.

 

Topics frequently raised at this year’s meetings included coronavirus economic relief, prescription drug pricing, transparency in the cattle industry, bipartisanship, derecho disaster aid, rural health care and telehealth, wind and solar energy, immigration, congressional oversight and investigations, rural broadband, the national debt, the Renewable Fuel Standard, international trade and federal regulations.

 

Grassley kicked off this year’s meetings in Johnson, Cedar and Jones counties.

 

While the coronavirus pandemic may have made some of Grassley’s meetings look a little different this year, the format remained the same: Iowans set the agenda. Grassley moved forward with his meetings in a safe and responsible way while following guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and the state of Iowa.

 

To view Grassley’s photos and tweets from the meetings, search #99CountyMeetings on Twitter and Instagram. Grassley earlier this week spoke about the completion of his 40th year of his 99 county meetings and how they have helped him represent Iowa’s agricultural workers in the U.S. Senate.

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